Cheshire West and Chester Council launches salary sacrifice car leasing scheme

Cheshire West and Chester Council has launched a salary sacrifice car leasing scheme for 9,500 employees.

The benefit, launched last month, allows staff to choose from 450 environmentally friendly vehicles emitting less than 120g/km of CO2.

The council saved time and money by basing the scheme on an existing framework agreement set by North Yorkshire Council, which, after a tendering exercise, selected Tusker to provide a scheme that can be used by all local authorities.

Debbie Thompson, reward manager at the council, said: “All local authorities can access this framework agreement, so it helps in terms of set-up from an efficiency and effectiveness point of view. It saves a lot of money and lots of time.”

The local authority introduced the scheme as part of its efforts to overhaul its benefits after it was created by the unification of four local authorities in 2009. It is also currently consulting on the removal of legacy car schemes inherited from some of the previous authorities.

However, the benefit is not available for the 7,000 staff who work in schools because it is not one of the salary sacrifice perks allowed for in their national terms and conditions.

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